Not the greatest photo, but that picture was taken on one of the best days of my life (second only to my wedding day)- the day I met Sir Terry Pratchett at a book signing in 2007. I was in the front row for his question and answer session and the first person to get their book signed that day. He was so sweet! Despite me being all tongue-tied and nervous, he talked to me and complimented me on the costume stuff I’d made. He even drew a scythe in my book.

When I caught the news on my Facebook feed this morning and saw his offical twitter post, I broke into tears that still haven't subsided. I know he's been sick for a long time with the Alzheimers, but... this is just heart-wrenching. He's my literary hero- heck, my hero in general. He was one of the few fantasy authors whose books always made me smile, whose books helped me not feel lonely or sad, that got me through rough patches in my life- and whose books I could actually read in a time where most fantasy is dark and depressing. He's my biggest motivation in my dream to be an author; he proved that you can be taken seriously as an author even if what you write is humorous.

My husband says that I need to not just see this as a cause for grief and a cause to fear that the fantasy genre will become even more depressing without Sir Terry's bright light. He says that I should use this grief as motivation to follow in my hero's footsteps. I shouldn't dwell on the fact that almost every piece of fantasy currently being published is dark and depressing. Sir Terry blazed a trail- a trail so special that it will be nearly impossible to follow- that paved the way for a genre that needs to exist. Other authors need to pick up where he left off and frankly there just aren't many of them in this genre. (Off the top of my head, I can think of maybe four.) People need humor. People need happy endings. People need books that broach serious subjects, but do so in a positive way. I need to follow my dreams and my heart and pick up one of the tendrils of that trail. I will help share light with the world by my words.

I'm not sure how coherent this post even is since it's written through a haze of tears, but long story short, he's definitely going to be missed. He was a brilliant, talented man.